The NPB will try to persuade the JPBPA into participating the WBC with their Samurai Japan model, which could provide another form of sponsorship/merchandising revenue in between tournaments. Japan may also be able to claim merchandising revenue during the WBC, provided they do not use the WBC logo or any other symbols/phrases connected to the WBC. There are some potential pitfalls with the model though. Unless Japan competes in the upcoming tournament, the NPB will not have a chance to sell Samurai Japan and make it a marketable brand. Even then, sponsors may not be willing to pay a lot of money without the direct connections to the WBC. Problems in semantics could also arise.

Again, the JPBPA is not happy with how WBC Inc owns rights for all sponsorship/merchandising opportunities. They are also not happy with the Samurai Japan model because it does not address the situation and simply provides a workout that may not even work very well.

Kei Igawa's thoughts on the WBC, via Sanspo: "The WBC is not very popular [in the US]. There are a lot of good players that do not participate. The timing is bad as well. Everyone is paying attention to college basket, which is equivalent to Japan's [summer] Koshien." And via Sports Hochi Osaka: "There is not much interest [in the WBC in America]. Some Dominican players [I know] even spoke about how they drank too much before WBC games. ... There are better players than those that make the US National Team."

One comment on “WBC News and Notes: July 24, 2012”

Igawa’s comments are dead-on. The WBC means absolutely nothing to the US, much the way that the Baseball World Cup means nothing to the US and Olympic baseball means very little to anyone not on the team or related to anyone on the team. The Olympics dropped baseball and, with the exception of the most hardcore amateur baseball fans, that was greated with a giant sigh of “so what?” in the US.